Kings face big task to retain Goorjian
Filed Under Curt Hennig | Posted on March 17, 2008
It is going to take a Herculean effort to keep Brian Goorjian with the Sydney Kings.
The curtain was drawn on one of the most tumultuous seasons in Sydney’s checkered history with Friday night’s loss to Melbourne in game five of the NBL grand final series.
Attention now turns immediately to the future of the club itself, the entire playing roster and their record-breaking coach.
Owner Tim Johnston has put the club up for sale in a season blighted by late payments to players and staff.
Goorjian and the players will meet in the coming days to determine the direction of the club and whether it is worth putting themselves through it all again.
The off-court woes hovered over the club all season, taking plenty of gloss off the second best regular season in NBL history (27-3) and a sensational playoff series.
On Friday night, Goorjian spoke like a man who felt his days in the harbour city were numbered.
“The issues aren’t with the fans or anything like that,” he said.
“It’s within the Kings and we need to sit down and discuss that now that the season has finished.
“I’ve had six wonderful years and I’ll see what happens when I sit down with management.”
He added that “if that’s how it ends up I’m good. If it’s fixed, it’s fixed, but right now, no regrets”.
If it is all over, Goorjian is the man responsible for transforming a club once labelled the worst in Australian sport.
The Kings had never reached a grand final before his arrival, but he orchestrated the league’s first ‘three-peat’ between 2003-2005.
The one let down was the repeated lack of interest from the city of Sydney itself, but when Goorjian and the Kings hit the court on Friday night, it was in front of a sold-out Entertainment Centre packed with 10,244 fans.
“If it’s finished, I’m leaving a happy man and when I’m back in the city I would be looking at people and feeling like we got it done,” he said.
“Six years, three championships, five grand finals, five regular seasons at the top of the ladder and a culture and code of behaviour that the city and the Kings logo can be proud of.”
With coaching vacancies at the South Dragons in Melbourne - where he began his NBL career - and Perth, Goorjian would have little trouble finding a new home.
Kings captain Jason Smith also couldn’t guarantee he would be back with the team next year.
“It’s a difficult problem to answer,” he said.
“I’m under contract … but I doubt whether anyone’s really thought about it. We put so much effort and thought into trying to get this done that that was way back down the list.
“Now that it’s over we’ll sit down over the next few days and determine everyone’s future.
“Those decisions will need to be made pretty quickly I think.”
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